Santam forges ahead with Supreme Court judgment appeal

SANTAM will continue with its application for leave to appeal the MaAfrika judgment at the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA).

This followed last year’s Western Cape High Court judgment in the business interruption claims case between Santam and Ma-Afrika Hotels and The Stellenbosch Kitchen, and the judgment of the SCA in the case between Café Chameleon and Guardrisk.

Santam yesterday said that it would commence the process for assessing claims for policies with contingent business interruption (CBI) extensions.

The claims assessment process would specifically apply to policies impacted by the recent judgments.

In line with the court’s rulings, Santam said this applied to policies written by its Hospitality and Leisure Division (H&L).

“The process will include assessments for the applicable H&L business interruption claims that were previously rejected in the months after the national lockdown commenced on March 27 2020,” Santam said in a statement.

The Ma-Afrika judgment resolved that there was cover for business interruption losses caused by Covid-19 itself and generally by the national lockdown and related restrictions imposed by government in response to the pandemic, provided that there was an occurrence of Covid-19 within the designated radius of the insured premises.

The SCA decision in the Café Chameleon case confirmed that approach.

“Santam respects the decision of the courts and believes that the recent judgments are sufficient to provide legal certainty in terms of the proximate cause of business interruption losses for policies with the same conditions

“However, the company believes that there are valid reasons to appeal the judgment of the Western Cape High Court in the Ma-Afrika case with respect to the indemnity period.

“The company will therefore continue with its application for leave to appeal the Ma-Afrika judgment at the SCA, specifically with regard to the indemnity period.”